60%
Faster environment switching
Reduced from 1:23 → 0:33 through platform-aware switching and clearer context cues.
Designing the Foundation for a Unified Platform Across Coates’ Ecosystem
Establishing shared platform foundations for identity, access, and environment management. Reducing cross-platform friction and accelerating environment switching by 60%.
Impact
67%
Faster access setup
Reduced from 1:27 → 0:29 via centralised access and role flows.
Scales without repeated effort
Multi-environment access no longer requires duplicated setup.
2
New future platform initiatives
Established the foundation that informed two new SLT-backed unification programs.
Goal
Define the shared platform foundations needed to unify Coates’ ecosystem and reduce cross-platform friction at scale.
Why It Mattered
As Coates’ ecosystem expanded, users were managing increasing platform complexity themselves juggling environments, access, roles and disconnected workflows. Without shared foundations, each new tool or market introduced additional friction and risk. This initiative shifted that burden from users to the platform, creating a scalable, predictable experience that supports both internal teams and future customer-facing growth.
I helped frame the problem beyond individual tools, focusing on how access, environment context, and workflows intersect across
the ecosystem.
This reframing aligned stakeholders on the idea that fragmentation was a platform problem, not a product-level issue.
Most friction occurred between platforms, not inside them.
- Discovery surfaced consistent patterns of users compensating for platform fragmentation through personal workarounds, managing environments manually, duplicating communication across tools, and relying on memory to maintain context.
- The most significant insight was that breakdowns occurred between systems, not within them. Access models, environment behaviour, and notifications operated independently, forcing users to bridge the gaps themselves.
- This highlighted that improving individual tools in isolation would not resolve the underlying problem, a coordinated platform approach was required.
A service design lens was applied to understand how work moves across platforms, teams, and systems not just within individual
tools.
This resulted in a service blueprint that mapped the end-to-end journey across front-stage and back-stage operations, connecting Content Services, Coates Support, BTS, and Core Tech. The blueprint defined six key stages of the experience:
- Intake & Planning
- Execution & Build
- Test & Validate
- Deploy & Resolve
- Close, Document & Learn
- Admin & Access
Across these stages, it surfaced:
- How responsibilities transition between teams
- The tools used at each touchpoint
- Where workflows break down or require manual coordination
- How system dependencies impact continuity
Outcome
This work made fragmentation visible at a system level, highlighting where users were bridging gaps between tools and processes. It directly informed where platform-level intervention was required — shaping the role of the management layer in unifying access, environment context, and workflow continuity across the ecosystem.
Global environment switcher vs platform environment switcher
The initial direction explored a global environment switcher, where a single control would update context across all tools. While this aligned with familiar mental models, it introduced a critical risk: not all platforms share the same environment structure.
Applying a global switch would have created false assumptions about shared state, increasing the likelihood of users operating in the wrong context.
The direction shifted to a platform-based environment model, where environment switching is scoped only to systems that rely on it. This prioritised accuracy and predictability over forced consistency.
This decision reduced risk, improved user trust, and ensured the interaction model aligned with real system behaviour.
Design exploration focused on key screens across both internal and customer-facing experiences to support alignment and
decision-making at a leadership level.
The work focused on high-impact entry points like the front door, navigation, and access management to show platform cohesion.
The screens were designed as:
- A starting point for future product work, not finalized outputs.
- Reusable patterns that can be adopted across platforms.
- Aligned with existing design systems, ensuring consistency without duplication.
Outcome
This helped stakeholders visualize the platform’s direction while remaining scalable and ready for integration.
Balancing strategic alignment with the practicality of building on existing systems helped avoid design debt.
This work was not handed off as a traditional delivery, but established as a foundation for future platform development.
Rather than defining a single feature, it introduced shared patterns for identity, access, environment context, and navigation — creating a reference point for how Coates platforms should behave as a unified system.
As a result:
- This work has been adopted as a blueprint for future platform initiatives
- It directly informed two new programs, both aligned to unifying internal platforms
- Teams now have a shared foundation to build from, reducing fragmentation and rework
Outcome
This work shifted platform design from isolated product decisions to shared system behaviour, enabling Coates to scale its ecosystem with greater consistency, safety, and efficiency.
Designing for systems at scale
- Unification comes from shared system behaviour, not just UI consistency
- Design decisions must reflect real platform constraints to reduce risk
- Service design reveals gaps between tools, not just within them
- Strong foundations enable products to scale without adding complexity